Clinical Case-2

A 50-year-old woman visited her local family practitioner with severe lower back pain radiating into her right buttock.

Low back pain is a common problem in family practice.

Of the many common causes of low back pain some need to be identified early to commence appropriate treatment. The common causes include an anular disc tear, a disc prolapse that impinges directly on a nerve root, spinal stenosis, and mechanical zygapophysial joint pain. Overall, the main causes can be distilled into three central groups: mechanical back pain, degenerative joint disease, and neuronal compression.

Sciatica and lumbago are not the same. Lumbago is a generic term referring to low back pain. Sciatica is a name given to pain in the area of distribution of the sciatic nerve (L4 to S3), which is commonly felt in the buttock and over the posterolateral aspects of the leg.